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A Nigerian anthropology professor teaching in America has one of the most incisive analyses of American politics I’ve read this political season. “Oh wad some power the giftie gie us / To see oursels as other see us!” wrote Bobby Burns. Much like overhearing gossip about yourself, it’s instructive, and often embarrassing, to learn how others perceive you.
I wish I could claim credit for the following, but one of my wife’s retired relatives sent it to her (and it may not be original to him). It’s funny, but also tragically true:
This morning the Administration said each one of us would get $300.00; it was supposed to be $800 but they dropped it to a $300 tax rebate.
If we spend that money at Wal-Mart, all the money will go to China. If we spend it on gasoline it will all go to the Arabs, and neither will help the American economy.
The way I see it, we need to keep that money here in America, so the only way I can see to keep that money here at home is to buy beer or spend it on prostitution, those are the only businesses left in the U.S.
A silent tribute to the men and women of the U.S. armed forces who have died in the two conflicts in Iraq is traveling around the country. Recently it stopped here in St. Petersburg. The day I took this photo, about two weeks ago, a volunteer was adding two more flags — one flag for each of two soldiers who had been killed the day before. That brought the total number of flags on display to 4,440. A sad number. The grassy lot on which the tribute was set up was a sea of red, white and blue. The emphasis here should be on red, for the blood each shed to protect us from those who wish us ill.
Ben Colmery, a student of international media development at Columbia University, writes in the Morningside Post, a blog by students of the School for International and Public Affairs:
In places where the hopes of democracy, rights, freedom, and change have long been crushed by dictators, tyrants, and murderers, you often have to crack the existing foundation before you can build a new one. Otherwise, anything you build is not likely to stand for very long. In my experience, media development is a great way to crack the foundation and plant some seeds.
Read the rest here.
The rise of the Internet will put newspapers and television out of business. Everybody knows that, right? “Don’t write the obituary yet” might be the more accurate prediction, according to a story published by MediaWeek. Media research firm Borrell Associates studied where candidates for political office are spending their advertising dollars:
More than 80 percent of all political dollars, nearly $4 billion, will be spent locally, with 60 percent or $2.9 billion going to broadcast TV. Newspapers are forecast to capture 17 percent of dollars, followed by radio at 10 percent and cable TV at 5 percent.
The story adds that success on the Internet hasn’t translated into success at the polls:
…But as Ron Paul has discovered, heavy traffic on the Web site isn’t enough. Paul’s site garnered 37.9 percent of political traffic, but his candidacy has been unable to break through in the polls or in the primary races….
